Afghan Kabob Express - Albany

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Afghan Kabob Express - Albany

My husband and son are huge fans of Manhattan’s food carts, particularly the ubiquitous hallal carts that serve up platters of chicken, gyro and falafel over rice with “white sauce” and “red sauce”. I’m personally not a fan of the “white sauce”, as it is mayonnaise based, and I much prefer tzatziki sauce with that type of food. Regardless, when we heard that a place had opened that served this type of food, husband and son were very excited.We went recently but, sadly, were disappointed. We ordered the “Bolani” appetizer (a thin crust stuffed with potato and green onion). It was tasty, but was so thin that it left us wanting more of the tasty filling. The menu says the Bolani is served with yogurt and “chatni” [chutney?], but no yogurt was ever brought to the table and the chatni was so watery that it was off-putting. For entrees we ordered a Gyro Pita and two Gyro-over-rice platters. Yes, we really did plan to order different things so that we could try a broader selection, but we all love gyro meat and couldn’t resist. We should have resisted. Everything was perfectly fine EXCEPT the gyro meat. Nice fluffy pita, fluffy nicely-seasoned rice, fresh lettuce and tomato. But the gyro meat, rather than being substantial slices (e.g., sliced off the cone), had been chopped into tiny bits and cooked so much that they were almost hard. The right flavor seemed to be in there, but it was like eating rubber chunks.Husband and son were also disappointed with the “white sauce”. The many versions they’ve had in Manhattan have all been pretty similar; mayonnaise based sauce with a vinegary tang. Unfortunately, they found the Kabob Express version to be sweet rather than vinegary.

So, would we go back? Yes, we may try it one more time and try other menu items; chicken, falafel, lamb kabobs. When we were there the place was almost filled with people who appeared to be very happily enjoying their meals. The prices are very reasonable and the plates with meats other than gyro looked pleasing.